Kayaks to Korea - community leaders share local marine management expertise on a global stage

10 September 2012 | Article

Today, local leaders from around the globe showcased innovative, community-based marine management techniques at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. These pioneers lead Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) in all corners of the world and hail from countries such as Fiji, Kenya, Madagascar, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Colombia and India.

They discussed cost-effective and proven ways to tackle common conservation challenges faced by coastal communities around the world and led a workshop ‘Locally Managed Marine Areas: Towards A Global Learning Network.’ The event enabled representatives from LMMAs and regional LMMA networks to connect in person and explore best practices and lessons learned. Vital links were developed for ongoing communication amongst LMMA communities worldwide.

“LMMAs are a proven, scalable conservation model to empower coastal communities to manage their fisheries and other key natural resources,” said Shawn Peabody, Madagascar Country Director of Blue Ventures, a British conservation NGO and co-organiser of the workshop. “We believe that the workshop, together with our other events and activities at this years world conservation congress, are enhancing links between LMMA practitioners across the globe and promote the sharing of timely and relevant information to help improve LMMA management.”

One of the major outcomes of the workshop was a declaration of support for two motions to be put before the IUCN Members Assembly at the Congress. The first calls on IUCN to dedicate further efforts and resources to advance ecosystem-based adaptation in coastal areas. The second asks the Director General to promote awareness of Locally Managed Marine Areas as a critical foundation for achieving global targets for marine protection.

The workshop was hosted by Blue Ventures in conjunction with CORDIO, a coral research non-profit involving researchers from 11 countries, the LMMA Network, and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre.